Timing, Embarrassment and Pink Hearts
by Hunter's Heir
Summary: This Valentine's Day was supposed to be a special one, but her timing and consequent embarrassment leaves Hermione with the thought that perhaps this year isn't the right one to tell Draco how she feels about him.


Happy Belated Valentine's Day! Here's a funny story for you: I started writing this about two years ago and I'm finally here at this point of having finished it - that's mainly due to writer's block, having forgotten it existed and just not being bothered to write anything for it. I hope you enjoy :)

P.S: I know that 14th Feb 1998 was a Saturday but let's just pretend for the sake of this fic (and my sanity) that it was a school day, yes?

* * *

_**Buzz. Buzz. Buzz.**_

A groan was heard as Hermione Granger woke up from a very peaceful night's sleep. She rolled over to her side and picked up her wand, she gave it a small flick to stop the buzzing and groaned once more.

It didn't take her long, in a short 30 minutes; Hermione was showered, dressed and halfway through semi-decent hair. Just a few more strokes of her brush and she was ready to face the day.

Today was the day. Today would be the day Hermione Granger told _him_ the truth, the truth about her feelings. And what better day to do it than on Valentine's Day?

"Come on, Hermione, you can do it." She told herself as she looked in the mirror. "You have been chickening out of this for far too long. Just... just go downstairs and wait for him and when he comes, just spit it out."

She gave herself a shaky smile and made her way out of her room. She halted outside her closed door as she looked at the Head Boy's bedroom door. _He is just there. You could go see if he is awake._ She could go see if he was awake, but what if he wasn't, what if he was still sleeping? _Then you should wake him up, breakfast starts soon, he wouldn't want to miss the first meal of the day!_ She took a step forward and then some more until she was right in front of his door. She raised her right hand and touched her knuckle to the door.

_I shouldn't. I should wait._

She sighed and bowed her head. Without really thinking it through, her hand knocked on his wooden door. There was no response so she knocked again; she waited for a while before knocking a third time. There was still no response. She presumed that he was still sleeping so she decided to just go inside and wake him.

She quietly opened the door and peered inside into the ill-lit room.

"Draco?" Hermione spoke in a quiet voice. It was clearly too quiet as not even an echo was heard. Hermione feared she might have said it in her head.

She opened the door further and allowed her whole body entry into the room. The only light source was the weak morning sun shining through the window that had its curtains haphazardly pulled together, but with enough gaps for some light to filter through. However, there were still small amounts of the room left in eerie darkness. She took a step into the room and as she was about to take another, a door to her left opened and more light trickled into the room, illuminating Hermione's shocked face.

There, in the doorway to the bathroom, stood a wet, naked Draco Malfoy.

The towel that he held in his hands dropped as his own shocked expression broke through onto his face. For a few seconds, neither student moved, they just stared at each other with horrified expressions on their faces until Hermione quietly spoke up.

"Dra... Mal... I... I-I-I..." a small, strange squeak escaped from Hermione's partially open mouth, as her eyes unwillingly looked over Draco's naked body. As her eyes stopped at a particular point on his body they hurriedly looked back into his eyes and her mouthed popped open fully before closing again. This action continued until Draco finally snapped out of his shock and made to raise his hand toward Hermione.

This, for some reason, scared Hermione and she let out another squeak before turning and rushing out of the room.

* * *

Breakfast was a nightmare. She had been repulsed by the sight that had met her as soon as she had stepped into the Great Hall. Pink hearts were littered all over the place and more were falling like snow from the enchanted ceiling. Grumblings could be heard from both students and staff, complaining about paper hearts of all sizes falling into their food. Then, as she had settled down into her seat, her nerves had picked up in anticipation of Draco's arrival to breakfast. She had jumped every time someone turned to talk to her and she spilled her tea all over herself when she had finally seen Draco walk into the Great Hall. She was a mess and, unfortunately, her friends picked up on this.

Ginny had stopped her conversation with a fellow sixth year when she saw that Hermione was acting quite strange this morning. She sensed Hermione was anticipating someone's entrance into the Great Hall, as the girl had been spotted, once or twice, looking at the doors with trepidation in her eyes.

Ginny didn't miss the small horrified squeak come from Hermione and turned to see that she had spilled her tea all over herself, acting on instinct she turned her eyes towards the doors of the Great Hall and saw a blond walking towards the long Slytherin table. With a, hardly noticeable but still there, malicious smile on her face, she turned back to Hermione and handed her a napkin from the table. Leaning slightly closer to her, she whispered in her ear, "Have you two shagged, then?"

The napkin Hermione had been holding in her hand dropped as she turned her horrified expression to face Ginny and saw her malicious smile grow slightly at her expression. Hermione's mouth popped open in question.

"Don't think you can hide anything from me, I see the looks you shoot in his direction every time you see him, and he must be a fool to not feel the same way. I'm just expecting the two smartest students in Hogwarts to have finally realised what is right in front of their nose and shagged each other already." Hermione still had that horrified expression on her face except now there also seemed to be an incredulous look in her eyes.

"No. _No!_ Definitely not, absolutely not! Don't be so crude, Ginevra, Malfoy and I have not... _shagged,_" Hermione was aghast that Ginny would think she had done... _that_ with Malfoy. She may have liked Draco, but she had never had any sexual thoughts about him, most definitely not!

Ginny laughed when she saw the flustered look on Hermione's face, "Well something clearly happened between you two. Did you kiss, perhaps?"

With a slightly disheartened tone, Hermione responded, "No, no we have not kissed." Hermione looked down at her cup of tea and sighed a depressed sigh.

Ginny simply patted Hermione on the back for at that moment, both students and staff had begun to disperse and ready themselves for the first class of this Valentine's Day.

"You ready to go, Hermione? It's double Charms to start the day and I have a feeling that Flitwick has something _special_ planned for this _lovely_ Valentine's Day!" Harry's sarcasm always cheered Hermione up, so with a soft smile, she got up and headed out of the Great Hall – doing everything she could to not allow her eyes to wander towards the Slytherin table.

As the trio settled into their seats, Hermione's mind finally began to lose its focus on Draco and his divine body. A series of taps on the teacher's desk brought everyone's attention to the front where Professor Flitwick stood on his desk chair to gain advantage over his students' heads. Although for many, it was the number of immobile marble cupids, complete with the wings and bow and arrow, that sat to the side of Flitwick's desk.

With his own amused look at the marble cupids, Flitwick turned his head around to look at his students. "Good morning, students, on this fine Valentine's Day. As you can see, I have here cupids. Your task for today is to animate your cupid and charm it to have the ability to sing. For those of you more advanced –" here he gave a pointed look toward the Head students, making Hermione blush and again start thinking about this morning "– your cupid must also play the instrument it is given. It is up to you if you wish for the cupid to dance. However, if you manage it, 30 points will be awarded to your house."

Flitwick's eyes scanned his students' horrified faces but he ignored them as he set about selecting which student was to levitate or summon a particular cupid, and to begin their task. Though it may sound simple, the art of animating inanimate objects was hard considering the concentration needed for the spell to have the correct effect. Accidental charms such as animating a cupid to hit every passer-by on the head with its marble instrument would not go down well with staff or student.

Hermione watched as a particularly ugly cupid floated closer to her until it settled two seats away in front of a disgruntled and disgusted Ron. Both she and Harry had to contain their laughter as Ronald's face started to brighten as others, namely the few Slytherins in their class, let out peals of laughter at Ron's unfortunate marble work.

Hermione's attention was caught as Professor Flitwick directed her to summon on the far left. Taking a closer look at the piece, Hermione spotted that her cupid was the only one with the flute grasped tightly in its little hands, and it had a devilish smirk carved onto its face. With a slight blush, Hermione summoned the cupid to her and set to work.

Nearly two hours passed and the sounds of many harmonies could be heard coming from the Charms classroom. Hermione was sure that if every single cupid didn't shut up soon, there would be a small explosion resulting in the destruction of all things marble and singing. By the looks on many of her classmates' faces, Hermione could rightly guess that similar thoughts were on their minds.

Hermione looked over just in time to see Draco aiming his wand at the sweet looking cupid with a harp that was flying around Draco's head. Before Draco could do anything lethal to the _poor thing_, it flew in the direction of Hermione and stopped just ahead of her. Not long after, Draco's cupid was joined by Hermione's very own and the only other cupid with an instrument belonging to Padma. Together, the trio of cupids started a melody of their own and as one, began to track the room, spreading their melody around the other students in the class before hovering above Professor Flitwick's head.

As if by magic, the remaining nine cupids floated towards the little Professor. Another series of taps brought the attention of the students back to the front of the classroom.

"Congratulations students, and an extra big congratulations to Miss Granger for successfully charming her cupid to dance," he paused to look behind him to see that whilst all the other cupids had momentarily stopped their singing, Hermione's cupid was still playing its flute and was now doing what could only be the Irish Jig.

Another peal of laughter erupted from everyone in the class as Hermione lowered her head in embarrassment. Vaguely, she heard Ron telling Harry how Seamus would be proud if ever he saw the cupid, this naturally brought on more laughter from the boys she called her best friends.

As Hermione looked up, she caught the eye of the blond haired Slytherin, he smiled at her broadly when he saw her looking and mouthed 'nice one' at her.

Hermione flushed again, she had to stop _doing _that!

As soon as Flitwick dismissed them, Hermione was out of her chair and gathering together her belongings, Flitwick had kept their cupids, saying he had a special surprise for everybody involving them. Hermione didn't mind so much, it meant she wouldn't be followed around by a crazy, slightly familiar looking, Irish dancing cupid.

As her next class of the day was Potions, Hermione had more than enough time to think about what had happened in the final minutes of Charms. Draco had looked at her, smiled at her, made a teasing comment at her as if nothing had happened this morning. As if she hadn't seen anything. Perhaps Draco was trying to pretend it ever happened, making it easier for both of them to not be embarrassed.

Hermione unconsciously slowed down her trek to the dungeons as she started to think back to how it all began. How she realised she had feelings for him, what had happened to both of them to become close enough to be called friends, yet not close enough to be best friends.

Hermione started to think of how much the pair of them had changed in these past few months they had been sharing a common room. Since the war had ended and things had gone back to the way they were before, except there was no longer any imminent danger from a psycho villain who wanted to rid the world of the likes of her, Hermione was impressed to see that not all Slytherins had gone back to their superior and pureblood ways.

Some, like Draco, had changed for the better, and although it had taken a while, Hermione had been happy to help anyone struggling along. Being partnered with Malfoy to represent the student body of the school, Hermione had had her chance to help the pureblood get over his issues with Muggles by becoming friendly with him, and on the way, Hermione learned some of her own life lessons taught to her by Draco. With the shocking cooperation between the Head students, other members of Slytherin house had slowly started to get out of their shells, and hesitantly began to mingle with the rest of the school.

Although it had not been fully successful at first, as there were still some very unhappy students who had lost beloved members of their families in the war, things gradually began to seem brighter.

Of course, introducing _all_ purebloods to the ways of Muggle life by a compulsory admittance to the Muggle Studies class did help.

And now here they were, 6 months after school restarted as soon as the war ended, and Hermione Granger was decided in love with Draco Malfoy.

Although she couldn't really be sure if it was just love or some weird form of lust, and after the events of this morning, Hermione could not claim that she didn't want a piece of _that body._

Stopping suddenly in the crowded corridor at her errant thought, Hermione was pushed from behind, hard enough that she fell on her knees. Looking up at who had pushed her so hard, she wasn't surprised to see a sneering 6th year Slytherin looking down at her. So there were still Slytherins who didn't exactly approve of their Head Girl.

But what did surprise her was the voice that boomed in the busy corridor, she turned to see who that voice belonged to, and was shocked to see an angry Draco walking towards her. Stopping right next to her, but completely ignoring her, Draco aimed his words to the boy.

"You stupid idiot, didn't you see her there, or are you blind?" Draco snarled at the boy who didn't seem to care that the Head Boy was reprimanding him at that moment.

"Well she shouldn't have stopped in my way," came his nonchalant reply. With a smirk at the blond, the boy turned and began walking back the way he had come.

Draco being Draco, pulled out his wand and aimed it at the back of the Slytherin. Before Hermione could even put her hand out to stop Draco from doing something that would surely have his title revoked, Draco had wordlessly cast a spell.

Total silence ensued for a total of five seconds before cheers and laughter were heard all over the corridor, younger and older students alike pointed and laughed at the struggling Slytherin that was now hovering above the ground, upside down.

Draco looked down at Hermione with a smirk of his own and held his hand out to her. Hermione, shocked, gathered her belongings from the ground around her and accepted Draco's hand with her free one, slinging her heavy bag over her shoulder. When Hermione was settled on her feet, Draco did not let go of her hand, as Hermione had expected, instead he led her toward the still struggling boy.

"Enjoying yourself up there?" Draco spoke to the red faced Slytherin. But before the boy could speak, Draco continued in a patronising way, "Maybe next time you won't be tempted to push someone out of your way in such a rude manner."

What a hypocrite! That was exactly what Draco had done to many students, including Hermione, during his previous years at Hogwarts. He had even begun this year pushing the younger students out of his way in a fashion similar to that of this boy.

The boy growled and threw a contemptuous look at Hermione before turning his attention to Draco. With a snarl, he spat at Draco's feet. Silence reigned again as all the students surrounding held their breaths in anticipation, wondering what Draco's next move would be.

None was surprised when they saw Draco raise his wand in a threatening manner or the hard look that covered his eyes, the ones closest to him and Hermione stepped back a little in fear of the magic radiating from his body. Hermione, however, squeezed Draco's hand as a form of warning and in part pleading for him to not do anything rash. Surprisingly for her, Draco's wand hand lowered marginally, his hold on her hand tightening.

Seconds passed as the boy and Draco held each other's glares, Hermione turned to look at Draco and realised she had to do something before Draco got himself into too much trouble.

"Malfoy?" Hermione whispered hesitantly, Draco's reaction didn't change and he continued to glare at the Slytherin boy. Hermione spoke louder than before and had more control over her voice, "Draco."

His eyes narrowed slightly before he flicked his wand again. The boy fell to the ground and groaned.

Draco took a step closer to the boy, who now cradled his left arm, and leaned down slightly to achieve the menacing look. "Next time, choose your battles wisely, and if ever I see you walking these halls like you own them whilst _I_ am Head Boy I won't let you go so easily. Touch Granger again and I'll make you wish you had never been born."

_What?_

Hermione was shocked and understandably so, never had Draco been so protective over Hermione like he was being now. He may have stood up for her in front of some Slytherins, but he had never threatened someone before so vehemently because of her. Hermione was surprised and flattered at the same time that Draco felt so strongly about her. Of course, it was all in a friendly manner and this painful truth brought Hermione back to the present where Draco was still speaking, except now to the crowd surrounding them.

"Someone get this idiot out of my sight before more harm comes to him."

A Ravenclaw girl stepped out of the crowd and made her way to the boy. As the pair walked past, Hermione grabbed onto the girl's arm lightly to stop her. "Take him to the hospital wing." The girl simply nodded and carried on her trek with the hurt boy.

Slowly the crowd started to disperse and Hermione's shock started to dissipate enough to notice that Draco was still holding her hand, as she turned to look at him with apprehensive eyes she saw that he was silently laughing about the debacle. He too turned to look at her with shining eyes and Hermione's knees nearly buckled at how alive he looked. She held herself together, however, when she realised that his happiness was coming from seeing someone in an unfortunate situation – no matter how much the boy deserved it.

Draco saw the look in Hermione's eyes change and his smile faltered a little. He jumped slightly when Hermione gave a tug on his hand and he finally let go. Taking a deep, calming breath, Hermione spoke, "Thank you, but that was... unnecessary, what you did."

Draco looked shocked for a moment before he controlled his features back into a plain mask, "I was simply looking out for a friend, if you feel _uncomfortable_ about me standing up for you than I promise to never do it again." With a stiff nod, Draco turned to walk away.

Hermione was taken aback at Draco's reaction, that was _not_ what she had meant and she didn't want him to get the wrong end of the stick. Without thinking, Hermione reached out to Draco, but as he had already turned away, her hand grabbed onto something that had most certainly not been her aim.

Draco jumped and Hermione's hand flew from Draco's person, she took a step back and slapped her hand over her mouth.

That was _not_ supposed to happen!

The look of shock in Hermione's eyes matched the look on Draco's face as they stared at each other. The only noise in the lonely corridor being Hermione's heavy breathing.

Eventually, Draco recovered from his shock and started to think about what had just happened. Draco could tell from Hermione's face that it was unintentional but that didn't stop him from thinking into it, he may not be a girl to over analyse things between herself and the person she liked but it was still odd for Draco. It was an accident, sure, but it was odd.

Slowly, so as not to scare Hermione, he stepped forward and raised a hand towards her, mirroring the same action from earlier in the morning. He still needed to talk to her about why she had been in his room.

Hermione felt contact on her shoulder and she jerked back, not realising what it had been until she saw the slight look of hurt on Draco's face. Immediately she was ashamed but before she could do anything, Draco spoke.

"It's okay, I get that it was an accident." Hermione squeaked then buried her head in her hands. She groaned when she heard a chuckle come from Draco.

In the next moment, her head was lifted out of her hands by Draco's hand coming to cup her cheek lightly. She looked at the dazzling grey eyes in front of her and for a moment she was lost until he blinked, breaking the connection. However, the hand holding her cheek so softly still radiated heat onto her skin, although it could be the blush that was starting to take form. He gave her a soft smile as his thumb began to tenderly stroke her cheek.

"Seriously, Granger, it's okay. This sort of thing happens to everyone at some point in their lives and this was clearly your point." He leaned down close enough so that Hermione could see the darker grey speckles in his eyes.

She spluttered slightly before composing herself to say, "I really don't think... _that_... was normal." She couldn't bring herself to say exactly what had happened; even thinking about it mortified her to the point where her blush deepened. Draco could obviously feel that her cheeks were getting warmer as his soft smile transformed into a smirk.

"Granger," he drawled, "you touched my butt," Hermione groaned and closed her eyes; her head was still trapped in his hand so she couldn't look away. She heard Draco let out another chuckle and started to get angry. It wasn't her fault that she had _accidently_ _grazed_ his backside; she had been aiming for his back – or anything to stop him from walking away from her.

She slowly opened her eyes to see his sparkling back at her, filled with mirth. Her anger slightly subsided when she saw how beautiful he really was, and she took a moment to study his features, truly taking him in for the first time at this proximity.

"We need to go, we're late," Draco's smirk had taken on a mischievous curl as Hermione's eyes flashed with remembrance at where they were. Quick as a flash and without thinking about it, she grabbed a hold of Draco's hand that wasn't caressing her cheek and, not giving him a chance to say anything, started running down to the dungeons where the Potions classes were held. This would be a hard one to explain to their professor but she was sure that Draco could come up with a reasonable explanation for their tardiness.

* * *

Professor Slughorn hadn't been happy when the Head students had turned up late for his lesson but once Draco had mentioned that they were _the Head students_ who had _responsibilities to the school_, the professor seemed to calm and continued on with the class.

Taking the seat saved for Hermione by Harry and Ron, she sent them both a look that told them she would explain everything later. This appeased them until now, where the Trio, Ginny and Lavender could be found occupying the comfortable chairs by the fire in the Gryffindor common room.

Lunch had been a quiet affair on the part of the boys as the two had been cramming as much last minute revision as they could for a test that McGonagall had set her Advanced Transfiguration class. But dinner had been a chaotic event.

The charmed cupids from Hermione's first lesson of the day had appeared in the Great Hall when all students and teachers had been in attendance. As an end to this year's Valentine's Day celebration, Professor Flitwick had decided to surprise the school by setting loose the cupids on unsuspecting students as they ate their final meal of the day. The ruckus the small number of flying marble sculptures had caused seemed like too much until they had left alone the students to serenade the teachers instead.

The pink paper hearts that had been present during breakfast, lunch _and_ dinner had not helped matters.

During this time no one had had the chance to question Hermione on her tardiness to Slughorn's lesson, or her arrival with Draco Malfoy. Except for now, when Harry turned to look at his bushy haired best friend who was watching the ginger siblings arguing over some insane topic. Of course, she was thankful that the two couples sat with her had not made any major plans for tonight, but simply to relax in their common room surrounded by their friends. However, it gave them the opportunity to interrogate Hermione on the happenings of today.

"So, Hermione, care to share what was so important that you had to be late to Slughorn's lesson?" Not only did this catch Hermione's attention, but the siblings' too, who stopped their petty argument, and Lavender who looked up from filing her nails.

Hermione turned to look at Harry as the others gave their full attention to what she would have to say.

"It was nothing, just... nothing," Hermione smiled, hesitant. She was sure that no one believed her, judging by their no-nonsense looks. She had to try though as she wasn't sure she wanted to tell them exactly what had happened with the sixth year Slytherin. Especially after a previous incident when the boys had flown off in a rage after finding out Draco hadn't been very pleasant towards Hermione, back before they had become friends.

If they would threaten someone they knew to be offensive towards Hermione, Merlin knew what they would do to a boy they didn't even know existed.

Ron scoffed and Lavender moved so she could settle more comfortably at his side. "We didn't see you on the way to Potions, Hermione?" There was a sparkle in Lavender's eyes and a teasing lilt in her tone, as if she knew something about her that the others didn't.

Ginny looked from Hermione to Lavender until she caught a look in the blonde's eye that told her it would be wise to get the truth from Hermione. Having not been in any of their lessons she had missed out on this small controversy until Harry had filled her in. A small hope had sprung up inside of her when she had been told of Hermione and Draco's entrance together in their Potions class.

She hoped for the older girl's sake that a romance was blossoming between this year's Head students as she felt Hermione deserved a good man in her life that wasn't simply her best friend. She, not unlike her brother and boyfriend, had been reluctant to accept the new Draco Malfoy that Hermione had befriended. But as time had passed and she saw just how well he was accepting of their Hermione, her reluctance had faded and morphed into a wish that something bigger could come out of Hermione's new friendship.

With a carefully guarded smile, Hermione spoke. "I was just distracted, is all. It was a terribly fascinating lesson. To have the ability to make inanimate objects animate and further to charm them to produce sounds!" She hoped her enthusiastic tone was deceiving at least one person in their small group.

"And what about dear Johnson? I heard you had some sort of interaction with him today?" The grin on Lavender's face was truly horrible, but in the few months that Hermione had really gotten to know her – not the giggly, boy-obsessed, teenage girl she had roomed with the past six years – she understand Lavender's motives for bringing out into the open the unfortunate events of the day.

She really didn't want the boys to be getting into any trouble for her sake, but they, along with Ginny, were intrigued in what Lavender was implying, and as her best friends they deserved to know if something had happened to Hermione, no matter how small.

Before any assumptions could be voiced, Hermione finally allowed her story to spill.

She told them she had been distracted on her way to Potions class, so much so that she had not seen where she was walking. She told them that the Slytherin boy, Johnson, had simply pushed her over and that before anything could be said between them, Draco had intervened.

She told them of how Draco had stood up for her by humiliating the boy in front of a crowd. She was slightly shocked that they hadn't heard anything from the gossip no doubt flying around the school of the Head Boy standing up for the Head Girl in a strangely threatening, and somewhat possessive, manner.

However, she was not surprised to hear from Ginny that the events of dinner hadn't left much room for gossip mongers to fill her in on the goings on around the castle. And the boys were hardly the type to care about things when food was involved – unless, of course, it involved any embarrassment caused to the Professors.

"That would explain the scrapes on your knees, then," said Harry. _Oh._ Hermione had done a quick concealment charm when she had seen the cuts on her knees from her fall so that the boys would not see and suspect anything. It had obviously faded from when she had first cast the charm. She looked up into Harry's green eyes with a sheepish smile.

"What did you say his name was?" inquired Ron in a dead tone.

"Johnson." Ron gave a nod of thanks to his girlfriend then, continuing to nod, turned to Harry.

Hermione saw the look that passed between the boys and pursed her lips in agitation. This was exactly why she hadn't wanted to tell them in the first place. Now they would look for the boy that had wronged their friend and surely get themselves into too much trouble.

She spoke up, hoping to assuage their determination to hurt the boy, "Leave him alone, he's already been dealt with." She sent a meaningful look first to Ron then Harry, nonverbally giving the command to back down from a fight that didn't need to begin.

Ron's look portrayed his annoyance at Hermione for not understanding why he and Harry needed to do this, "He hurt you, Hermione. I'm not going to let that little runt get away with hurting my friend." His conviction seeped into his tone but it wasn't enough for Hermione to back down.

"Look, I appreci-" Hermione began but was cut off by Lavender.

"Well, what's done is done. It seems like Malfoy handled the situation well enough, so you don't need to worry. Besides, Hermione's a big girl and I don't think she wants you fighting all her battles." With a warm, friendly smile to Hermione – one she returned as slight gratitude – Lavender hauled Ron off the chair they had been sharing and dragged him up the stairs to the boys' dorm.

As she watched the couple leave together, Hermione reflected on the miracle that was Lavender Brown. Having been attacked by Greyback during the Battle, many assumed she would not survive the injuries inflicted upon her. But a strong force of magic had been used on the girl to allow her to live. Hermione was grateful that Lavender had survived because it allowed her and Ron to be in the loving relationship they are in today. Hermione knew she had not been right for Ron in some manner and she was happy that he had found someone to love him better than she would have ever been able to.

After that, Hermione got the feeling that it would be best if she left Ginny and Harry alone to enjoy the last few hours of Valentine's Day by themselves. She was reluctant to leave however; as she didn't want to return so soon to the common room she shared with Draco Malfoy.

After the debacle of this morning, Hermione wasn't sure she could face Draco again so soon. It may have happened about 12 hours ago but Hermione still felt mortified that she had seen Draco in such a state of undress, and without his permission! Then to molest him only a few hours later? Hermione wasn't sure she'd be able to stand being in his company ever again. She was a terrible person, and she didn't deserve Draco's friendship or kindness.

She resigned herself to her fate. It was inevitable that she would see him sooner than she liked, and she was sure he wouldn't want anything to do with her.

Mustering as much courage as possible, she raised herself from the comfortable chair of the safe Gryffindor common room. She didn't look at her friends, who were immersed in themselves, as she walked out of the room and through the portrait hole to enter a sparsely lit, empty corridor.

Her trek to the Head's common room took longer than usual, but once she reached it she was met with not one but two occupants in the portrait guarding the entrance to her common room.

The familiar tall giraffe that currently sat resting was accompanied by an unfamiliar giraffe; the two seemed to be relaxing in a loving embrace that Hermione found adorable yet distressing. It was hard to see that even the objects of paintings had found a companion on this day for lovers.

She was loath to interrupt their calm but she had nowhere else to go. Curfew was fast approaching her and the library had been closed early due to the librarian being _required elsewhere_.

With a soft clearing of her throat, she recited the holiday friendly password to the disgruntled animals and entered into the dark and quiet common room.

Standing in the tiny alcove between the portrait and the threshold of the common room, Hermione knew that no one was currently occupying the plush sofas inside. The fireplace was charmed to illuminate and heat the room when it sensed a person in the four walls of the Heads' common area.

As soon as she stepped past the threshold, the fireplace burst to life. With its glow, it lit up the face of the one person Hermione had been hoping to avoid.

Draco sat calmly in the black sofa directly in front of the fireplace. He lay in a reclined position with his feet outstretched onto the ground. One arm resting on the arm of the couch, the other nestled behind his head. His piercing grey eyes were staring right at Hermione unblinkingly.

Hermione spluttered and her gaze shifted to the fire crackling merrily then back to Draco with a questioning look.

Draco blinked, slowly, and let a breath of air out his nose as if in exasperation and Hermione morphed her look into a disgruntled one. In a blank tone, Draco spoke, "You know Granger, no matter how many times you tell me not abuse House Elves I won't listen. Their sole purpose in life is to serve so who am I to stop them." He gave her a triumphant grin when she huffed.

Having displaced her earlier shock at seeing him with the frustration of his comment, Hermione huffed and wondered why she liked this cocky bastard, or why she was so apprehensive of seeing him again.

With her head high, she made her way inside and steered herself to walk behind the sofa Draco was lounging upon. She didn't get very far however, for as she drew nearer to him his hand shot out and grabbed onto her arm.

With a gentle grip on her arm, he coaxed Hermione to sit next to him on the sofa. Reluctantly, she obliged, if only because the hand on her arm was sending thrills through her body and she needed to sit down.

Their new positions allowed them to be touching at all times. Even if Draco let go of Hermione's arm, his knee would still be resting against Hermione's. Their torsos were turned to face each other and so Hermione had no other places to avert her eyes but to look at her hand fiddling with her skirt if she wanted to avoid Draco's eyes.

The thumb of his hand on her arm had started to draw slow circles when asked his question, "Why did you come into my room this morning?" If not for the tone of his voice, Draco's question would have sounded accusing.

Hermione blushed, the confidence she had felt this morning about telling Draco her true feelings towards him had dissipated quickly with the rise of her embarrassment. Her embarrassment was still there so she wasn't sure if she wanted to tell him anymore that she thought she was in love with him. Actually, having thought about her feelings for Draco so often these past few weeks, and to work up her courage to tell him, she was very sure that she was in love with him.

Her prolonged silence forced Draco to gently nudge her.

She jumped, minutely.

She spoke in a timid voice, "I just, just wanted to wake you up." She spoke to her lap and shrugged slightly.

Draco's other hand came up to tug at her face, to pull it up so that she was finally looking at him. A smile adorned his face as he repeated his question. Again, Hermione was silent, but this time she did not break her silence to answer his question.

With a teasing lilt to his tone to accompany the teasing smile on his face, Draco tried another approach, "Did you want to tell me something?"

Hermione smiled shyly and uncertainly, "Happy Valentine's Day?" The questioning tone at the end had Draco chuckling and he dropped his hold on Hermione's arm to grab the hand not fiddling with her skirt. Slowly, he brought it up and placed a tender kiss on the back of her hand, he looked up at her when he heard Hermione's soft gasp.

Keeping her hand in his, Draco edged his face closer to Hermione's and he didn't miss the flicker of her eyes to his lips before they came back to lock with his.

"Was there something else you wanted to tell me, Hermione?" Draco all but whispered. Hermione sighed at the way her name sounded coming from him in such a sensual tone.

"Draco... I..." Hermione's breathing picked up when she felt Draco's breath feather across her face. He was closer now and the temptation to kiss him that she always felt when near him was building.

The hand on her face moved to cup her cheek. "Yes, Hermione?" His tone was sexy, alluring. Just a whisper.

He was so close now that Hermione wondered if he was planning to kiss her soon. But they both kept a bit of distance. She didn't know Draco's reasoning for not yet sealing their lips but she was hesitant, wondering if Draco really knew what he was doing. Wondering if Draco knew he was close to kissing Hermione Granger, the girl he had hated for the majority of the time they had known each other.

In a bold, yet tentative, move, Hermione pulled closer to Draco and nuzzled her nose with his. Hermione's name released from Draco in a whoosh of air and a second passed before he leant that extra bit closer to seal their lips together in a perfect kiss.


End file.
